Spurs find themselves
travelling up the M11 to meet the pride of Norfolk. Having drawn a
blank in the first meeting this season, both teams have had a lot of
changes since then.

Norwich have gone from
draw to draw, picking up the one point here and there, but getting stuck
with an odd goal defeat or being routed by four. Nigel Worthington
will be looking for an improvement in the second half of the season to
try and finish 17th as a minimum requirement. For Spurs, we have
changed coach, brought in a different way of playing and introduced some
more of the squad to the team making the team a more attractive
proposition in the process.

That change in style
might mean a more difficult game for Norwich than the one at White Hart
Lane, as the opportunities are being created for Defoe and Kanoute and
Robert Green and his defence will have to be on top form to keep them
out again. They might be a bit shell-shocked after a four goal
hammering at Chelsea last week and the keeper will have to be on his
toes to foil the Tottenham attack. Adam Drury had been out of
favour when we played them in September, but now is back in the fold at
left back. Former Spurs Gary Doherty has played at centre-half and
handed a penalty to the opposition recently, so, I am not sure if he
will be able to cope against Defoe. Kanoute will most likely be up
against Craig Fleming, who apparently, you will never beat, but the pace
he had when an Oldham player (and that wasn't great) has faded, so might
be struggling. Simon Charlton is an option and he has good
experience from his time at Bolton and is a reliable stalwart, who plugs
away and even got a goal for the first time in years recently.
Marc Edworthy is the former Palace and Coventry defender, who has had a
go at full back and without an appointed winger, he might find himself
being pulled out of position.

Philip Mulryne will be
missing with a groin injury, Gary Holt is out too with a chest problem
and Damien Francis with a broken cheekbone. This leaves Thomas
Helveg, who has failed to impress since his arrival from Inter Milan and
Youssef Safri, another ex-Coventry player, who has not been the dominant
force they had hoped. Darren Huckerby might be deployed behind the
front two and his ability to run at defenders makes space for others and
he can finish himself too. He could be joined in midfield by David
Bentley, the Gooner on loan at Carrow Road for the season and was
formerly a striker, but has operated deeper to slide passes through to
the forwards.

It will be a blow that
Mathias Svensson is out with a knee injury picked up last week against
Fulham, while former Spurs man Paul McVeigh is being used from the
bench. This will provide a chance for Leon McKenzie to take the
lead and he is a player Tottenham were linked with when he was at
Peterborough United. Fast and possessor of a fine shot, he might
find Ledley King more than a match for his skills. Some youngsters
feature in the squad with Ryan Jarvis one who is being hailed as the
next big thing at Norwich.

With the injuries and the
problems the side have had in making a dent in the Premiership points
column, I feel Norwich might struggle in this match, with Spurs on a
roll; although we know that is no guarantee of anything !! I think
that the Canaries might survive come May, but without the aid of any
contribution to their plight from Tottenham, who like to play at Carrow
Road historically. With a few players keen to stake a claim for
the side over Christmas and New Year, Spurs will be looking to press
home their advantage of the confidence they currently possess ...

PREDICTION : -
Norwich City 1 Tottenham Hotspur 3

For more information on
the opponents and their history, including full result history of
matches between the two teams, click here.

A confident Spurs weathered a
first half storm to send the Canaries back to their perch without an
addition to their Christmas points total, while the trek back to London
was made more Merry by the warmth of a fifth consecutive win under the
belt.

The game started without Jermain Defoe,
hat-trick hero of the last Spurs outing, but the return of Naybet and
Edman strengthened the back four. It looked as though they would
have a busy return to action in the first half, with Norwich seemingly
intent on attacking the Tottenham goal at every possible occasion.

Spurs had pushed Atouba up into a
midfield position to accommodate Edman, which allowed Thim to get
forward and knock in some dangerous crosses, but unfortunately, there
was never anyone on the edge of them. Norwich were also forced to
make some changes, but theirs were during the first period, when they
lost Charlton early on and later when old boy Paul McVeigh replaced the
injured Jonson five minutes before half-time.

By then, Norwich could have been two
up. A tenth minute move involved Huckerby setting up Bentley, who
struck a 20 yard shot that left Robinson standing and the Spurs keeper
was relieved to see the ball bounce back off the goalpost. Then
Edworthy joined the attack to strike a short corner into the box, but
Pedro Mendes got something on the ball that took it spinning wildly over
the bar of the Spurs goal. Robinson watched a Jonson effort fly
over, but had to be sharp to keep out another shot from the on loan
Gooner Bentley.

With just over a quarter of an hour gone,
Spurs finally threatened the Norwich goal, when Mendes put Keane in, but
he stepped over the ball, leaving it to run to Kanoute, but he pulled
his low shot a yard wide of Green's goal. Two minutes later,
Tottenham were saved by Mendes' header that kept Doherty's header from
Huckerby's free-kick out of the net. Then in a replay of the
incident, but at the other end, Pamarot rose to head Carrick's
free-kick, but the ball floated wide.

Norwich were using the pace of Huckerby
and trying to get him matched up with Naybet, but often, he found
Pamarot or Edman as the ones who he had to beat and did not manage to
get away from them as easily. Tottenham's best
opportunity of the half came when Doherty and Fleming hashed a
clearance, leaving a high ball that Fredi won, but he failed to
recognise that Robbie was best placed to score and then the opening was
closed down. It was good to see Carrick pushing forward and be
wiling to shoot, as he hit a 37th minute drive at the keeper, just after
Keano had hit a shot over the top. Just before half-time, Spurs
got out of jail when King tried to let the ball run back to Robbo, but
McKenzie got in first and poked the ball over the Spurs keeper and
towards the goal. Only the quick thinking of Naybet managed to get
to the ball before it slowly ran over the goal-line.

It proved to be a turning point, with
Norwich deserving to be in the lead, but failing to take the openings
that came their way. This was also true of the second half, but in
a reversal of fortunes, Spurs dominated possession and made it
tell. McKenzie's header from Huckerby's corner was athletically
touched onto the bar by Robinson in the 53rd minute and then Spurs broke
away to the other end, but Kanoute could not reach Keane's pass that ran
through to the keeper.

Spurs were now knocking the ball about
confidently, with Atouba and Kanoute firing in shots that didn't trouble
Green, but this was a precursor of things to come. Just after the
hour, Mendes hit a volley from Keane's flick and Green was sharply down
at his post to concede a corner. Atouba had taken a bit of a
battering and finally was replaced by Ziegler in the 66th minute and the
young Swiss midfielder struck a fine shot that went wide shortly after
his introduction to the action.

Edman proved a vital return to the team,
when he denied Huckerby an opening as he thought about shooting and from
Robinson's clearance, Kanoute played in Mendes, who shot too high.
It was end to end stuff now and it was a slight concern that Spurs had
not made the most of the possession they had during the second
half. All that was water under the bridge after Jermain Defoe came
on for Kanoute. This was a bit of a surprise, as Robbie looked the
lesser of the two strikers on the day, but it shows what we know,
because form Ziegler's corner, Drury made a mess of clearing it and
Keane was standing ten yards out in a central position to slam the ball
low past Green.

It was all Spurs deserved in the second
half, as they took control and within four minutes, the lethal finishing
of the white-shirted players put them 2-0 ahead. Pamarot played
the ball into Michael Brown and he exchanged passes with Robbie
Keane. Taking the ball on a couple of strides, Brown smashed a
curling drive past the Norwich goalie into the top corner. It was
a fine finish and one that Brown has deserved for his efforts over the
last couple of weeks.

As the home side pushed forward to get
something back, McKenzie failed to hit the target with a free header,
Defoe was defied by Green's legs at the other end, Helveg hit a 25 yard
drive that Robinson had to grab at the second attempt and then the
keeper got to Fleming's knock down before the Dane in the six yard
box. As time ticked down, another old boy, Gary Doherty was on the
end of a corner to nod a header wide of the mark and then came the final
whistle that gave Spurs a record equalling fifth straight win in the
Premiership.

Martin Jol has produced a winning run
that has taken Spurs up the table, so that come the end of the year, we
are in the top half. Now comes the difficult bit and the aim will
have to be to push up further from there ! But, with this squad
and the coach in place, it might just be a possibility you know !!

The way the Spurs team have taken
to Martin Jol's promptings is a real revelation and the results being
reaped on the pitch are the culmination of what goes on off the
pitch. A victory at Norwich was a tricky trip that once might have
ended in tears, but this win was earned by getting through a sticky
spell in the first half and going on to dominate in the second 45
minutes.

It is a thin line between success
and victory and the 5" thickness of the woodwork of the goal frame
was that difference here. Twice Norwich struck that woodwork -
once from Bentley, who hit a shot that didn't look that purposeful in
his direction, but it smacked back off the post and McKenzie had a free
header from a corner in the second half that Robinson just got a touch
to as he deflected it onto the bar. The closest that Norwich came
to breaching the Tottenham defence was in the final minute before the
break, when King and Robinson conspired to fail to claim a through ball
and in between them nipped Leon McKenzie to toe poke it beyond
them. The ball bounced slowly towards goal and it was only the
alertness of Noureddine Naybet and the speed in his old legs that
managed to get him to to the ball just before it got to the line and he
hooked it out and Edman smashed it into touch.

Robinson was in action too,
saving from Bentley and Mendes was at the heart of the action, clearing
a Doherty header when standing near the post and prior to that having
sliced a low cross just over his own bar when it looked easier to hit it
away.

Spurs had few clear cut chances
in the first half, but after McKenzie's header, they took a grip on the
match and made it their own. Holding possession in midfield and
tightening up to prevent the breaks Norwich were making, Tottenham
gained control and started to move forward.

The first goal came about from a
slack piece of defending in the Norwich box from a Ziegler corner.
Fleming headed the ball back into the goalmouth from the far post and
Drury fluffed his clearance, leaving the ball to sit up for Robbie Keane
to slam the ball into the net through two sets of Canaries legs.
It was a comedy of errors by the home defenders, but when you are near
the bottom of the table, that is the way things go for you.

It got worse for the Norwich team
when Spurs created a good goal a few minutes later. Pamarot won
the ball and his header went to Michael Brown, who played a one-two with
Keano and took the ball on a yard or two. As he was unchallenged,
he decided to fire in one of his trademark (or they were at Sheffield
United) shots from 25 yards and it arrowed past Green, who didn't have a
chance.

After that Spurs could have
scored again near the end when Defoe came on and smacked a shot low,
bringing Green's legs into action to keep the ball out.

This was a determined performance
by Spurs that blossomed in the second period and the team selection by
Jol was spot on. With the run of wins now extending to five for
the first time in nearly eleven years, the team have belief in their
ability to play in the solid way that the Dutchman wants them to, but
with the attacking option on the break when away from home. While
the run will not last forever, it is good to see the side giving the
fans something to be happy about and is the hope that comes at New Year
something that will finally come to fruition come the end of the season
?